Senior Pastor

Dr. Bill Slater

bill.slater@wakeforestbaptistchurch.org

From the first time you meet Bill Slater, you will feel his love for the Lord and his love for the church he leads. He calls us his family; he feels like family to us.

Bill has all the credentials one would expect from a pastor with "Doctor” before his name. He has degrees from the University of Richmond (B.A., 1977) and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (M. Div., 1980) and Southeastern Seminary (Doctor of Ministry, 1988). He has furthered studied at Union Theological Seminary and Oxford University. He doesn’t have any of the "stuffiness” you sometimes find with someone with "Doctor” before his name. He wants us to call him "Bill.”

Bill has more than 35 years experience as a pastor. He has led churches in Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina before coming to Wake Forest Baptist as Senior Pastor in 2005.

One of Bill’s greatest passions is missions work, both locally and globally. From the local community to, in the past several years, serving in Cuba, Kenya, India and Haiti, Bill has served and led teams in over 15 countries, but his greatest heart is for our own backyard.

Bill considers his family to be his greatest treasure. His wife of 30 years, Kathy, has made several moves and sacrifices, but has never wavered from being Bill’s greatest partner in ministry. Kathy’s passion is teaching special education at Jones Dairy Elementary School. She and Bill have two daughters, Kelly and Paige. Kelly is a graduate of Appalachian State and has provided Bill and Kathy a granddaughter named Chloe, and Paige graduated from East Carolina University in the spring of 2014 and serves as Activities Director of Hasentree in Wake Forest.

Bill keeps saying, "We have a gift this community cannot live without, and that gift is Christ.” We feel Bill is God’s gift to us.

Other credentials:
Bill was named as one of the pioneers of a program known as Sustaining Pastoral Excellence (SPE). Only 35 "leading edge” pastors in six states were selected as "exhibiting ministerial excellence.” The SPE is a three-year process funded by the Lilly Endowment.

Denominational positions Bill has held include: Member of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s National Council and a host of involvements in statewide leadership positions.

His civic and educational activities include: past member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Richmond; past member of the Board of Trustees of Virginia Intermont College, past member of the Advisory Board of High Point University and Campbell University; Director and Chairperson of Family Focus, Inc.

General Information

We want you to know that we want to be a resource for you. Please do not hesitate to contact us if we may be of help to you in any way.